It's not the first time she's been a queen, she's already a queen when she's twenty-three, but that time she's only been a queen for thirty-six days.

Just when Empress Wei was pondering, her personal palace maid Qiaolian quietly walked to her side and said cautiously: "Queen Mother, the Shang Dining Room has sent the nest you wanted, and it's still hot!" ”

"Wotou?" Empress Wei was stunned, and then she remembered that she had indeed made a nest for herself, and she said lazily, "Bring it up!" ”

Qiao Lian commanded the palace maid to put the nest head and all kinds of side dishes in front of Queen Wei, looking at these golden nests made of cornmeal, Queen Wei couldn't help but think of the unforgettable years in Fangzhou, just like yesterday.

At that time, she was pregnant, and the two daughters and one son she gave birth to were still young, and the family's food, clothing, and washing were all handled by her alone, which was very hard.

When she was in Fangzhou, Queen Wei did the most to Wotou.

Splash the cornmeal with boiling water, then knead it well, knead it into a small dough in the palm of your hand, and then press it lightly, and a nest head is ready. The carrots and cabbage gnocchi that they pickled at home are basically their family's meals.

Empress Wei chewed a bite of the nest and felt that it was difficult to swallow, so she waved her hand and said, "Take it down!" ”

Time has passed, and Wowotou no longer has the taste of the past, and can only belong to the dusty memory.

Empress Wei knew in her heart that the reason for such a change was because of the change in her identity and status. Of course, there is also Li Xian's intention in this.

Li Xian was restored as an emperor, although he was not constrained by Wu Zetian, but he found that many things were not as simple as he imagined. There are many forces in the court that are beyond his control, especially his younger brother Li Dan and his sister Princess Taiping, who are not weak.

Li Xian could neither be ruthless to his younger siblings, nor could he watch their power grow stronger and stronger. So, he thought of a way: support Empress Wei to fight against them, and he held the balance in the middle.

First of all, Li Xian asked Empress Wei to follow Wu Zetian's example, and sat in the tent behind the emperor's throne to listen to the government.

Then, through Empress Wei and Wu Sansi, they attacked Zhang Cambodia and others, who supported Li Xian's restoration. These people seem to have made meritorious contributions to Li Xian's ascension to the throne, but in fact, Li Xian is very clear, they are all people from King Xiang and Princess Taiping.

Except for Zhang Cambodia and others, King Xiang and Princess Taiping were hit. At the same time, Empress Wei's status was improved with the assistance of Wu Sansi. Li Xian originally planned very well, but he didn't expect Li Chongjun to launch a coup d'état, so that Wu Sansi died in the coup.

At this time, Empress Wei's strength became weak again.

Li Xian knew that in order to fight against King Xiang and Princess Taiping, it was necessary to strengthen the power of Empress Wei.

As a result, Li Xian sealed the Empress Wei family. Posthumously presented the dead Wei Xuanzhen as the king of the state, and the tomb built was called "Baode Mausoleum", and the four younger brothers who were posthumously exiled to Lingnan and killed by the local barbarian chieftain were the county kings. I want to borrow Queen Wei

Empress Wei's eldest brother-in-law Lu Songsheng was promoted to the son of the country, the second brother-in-law Feng Taihe was promoted to Taichang Shaoqing, the cousin Wei Wen was the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and the Duke of Lu Guogong, Wei Xu was the general of Zuo Yulin and the Duke of Cao Guo, and the two sons of Empress Wei were recruited as concubines.

With Li Xian's unremitting support, the power of Empress Wei's family swelled rapidly, and they also had the strength to compete with King Xiang and Princess Taiping.

Empress Wei looks very beautiful, but she is really tired, and she can't help Li Xian.

"This slut!" Empress Wei scolded hatefully, and suddenly shouted, "Someone! ”

Qiao Lian appeared in front of Empress Wei with low eyebrows: "Queen Mother, what do you command?" ”

"Hurry up and send someone to invite the elder of the Sect Pavilion to come, and say that there is something important to discuss in this palace!"

"Yes! Queen Mother! ”

Qiu Lian was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Queen Wei, and after a long time, she waved her hand in annoyance: "Forget it, you don't need to invite, you go down first!" ”

Qiao Lian had long been accustomed to Empress Wei's order to change every day, and she didn't ask why, she just obediently agreed and quietly retreated.

"If it's still there, that's good!" Empress Wei muttered to herself.

Yes, Empress Wei has always believed that she cannot achieve a decisive victory in the contest with Princess Taiping, on the one hand, because Princess Taiping has a lot of scheming and deep roots. And the more important reason is that Princess Taiping is surrounded by talents, but there is no one around her who can really give advice.

Zong Chuke was loyal, and Empress Wei made him the first assistant. It is good to be loyal, but Zong Chuke's vision is too short-sighted, and compared to Wu Sansi's foresight, it is really useless.

Empress Wei originally wanted to discuss countermeasures with him, but Zong Chuke's ability was limited, and as the first and auxiliary prime minister, she couldn't even handle the other prime ministers in the political hall, so how could she relieve her worries?

The current situation is indeed a bit weird, first Lang Qi risked his life to write a letter, saying that Empress Wei colluded with Zong Chuke and attempted to rebel. Later, Yan Qinrong played, saying that the queen interfered in national affairs, Princess Anle and Zong Chuke and others colluded with each other, and they were traitors and endangered the society and the country.

These people are all small people, but they can reach the heavens, and there is no shadow of Princess Taiping behind them, who would believe it?

Although Lang Qi and Yan Qinrong have been eliminated one after another, Princess Taiping's plan has succeeded, and Empress Wei's reputation in the court and the hearts of the people is getting worse and worse.

Empress Wei's heart was in a panic, and she picked up the fan at hand in the heat.

The royal fan of the palace is exquisitely made, and when the fan is opened, a slim lady jumps on the paper, and the lady's forehead is lit with a handful of red plum makeup.

Seeing the red plum makeup, Empress Wei's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help patting her forehead and muttering, "How did I forget her?" ”

……

Of course, Shangguan Wan'er knew why Empress Wei was looking for her, and she thought about how to deal with Empress Wei along the way.

Shangguan Wan'er was dressed in a white narrow-sleeved palace dress, slowly walked into the hall, bowed and bowed, smiled, and opened her cherry lips: "Wan'er knocks to see the queen!" ”

"Sister Wan'er, why be polite, please take a seat!" Empress Wei enthusiastically took Shangguan Wan'er's hand and said.

"Thank you, Queen!" Wan'er sat next to Empress Wei as she said.

Empress Wei was not polite, and said to Shangguan Wan'er directly: "Sister Wan'er, the mourning family came to you because I want to discuss something with you!" ”

"Queen Mother, please speak!"

Empress Wei sighed and said: "I don't know what's going on recently, even those prime ministers in the political hall don't listen to the call, and the court and the middle government criticize me a lot." Tell me, what should I do? ”

Shangguan Wan'er smiled and said, "Don't ask, the prime ministers of the political affairs hall, someone must have given them eye medicine!" ”

At the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, only the governors of Shangshu Province, Menxia Province, and Zhongshu Province were prime ministers. Later, in order to select cronies from the middle-level officials to divide the power, all officials above the fifth rank could serve as prime ministers without being restricted by seniority.

The power of the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty is very great, and the appointment of officials must be drafted by Shangshu Province, reported to Zhongshu and Menxia provinces, and then reviewed by the prime minister, and then approved by the emperor and then issued by the prime minister.

"It's really not good, I managed to replace those disobedient prime ministers!" Empress Wei said hatefully.

Shangguan Wan'er shook her head and said, "Of course, the queen mother can change the prime minister, but this is not the fundamental solution to the problem!" ”

"What do you mean by that?" Empress Wei asked for advice with a humble face.

"Whether it is the prime minister of the political hall or the ministers of the court, many of them are installed by the queen mother herself, it stands to reason that the contest between the queen mother and the princess of Taiping should have the advantage, but this is not the case, can the mother know the reason?"

"Sister, please speak up!"

"With all due respect, although there are many people around Niangniang, they are all sycophants, and there are very few people who are really capable. On the contrary, Princess Taiping is snaring talented people, although they are few but very powerful, and under the rise of one another, they will be evenly divided! ”

Empress Wei smiled bitterly: "I don't know what my sister said, I can't help it!" ”

Queen Wei didn't say a word, she went all out to fight with Princess Taiping and King Xiang, it was Li Xian who secretly confessed to her, and she was indeed a little powerless.

"Actually, the ultimate force that determines the victory or defeat of the Queen Mother and Princess Taiping is not the power that the two of you have now, but the power that neither of you has mastered, that is, those centrists!"

"Centrists?" Empress Wei was a little puzzled.

"Take the prime minister of the political hall!" Shangguan Wan'er explained to Empress Wei: "Among the seven prime ministers, three are from the queen's mother, two are from Princess Taiping, and two belong to the centrists. Now it seems that the queen has the upper hand, but in the end it will be up to who can win the support of the centrists. If the mother wins, it will be a sure victory, but if Princess Taiping wins, it will be a victory! ”

The number of prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty is uncertain, sometimes two or three people, and sometimes five or six people. After Li Xian became emperor, the number of prime ministers was the largest in all dynasties, reaching seven.

Among them, Zong Chuke, Ji Zhana, and Wei Juyuan were single-handedly pulled up by Queen Wei, Wei Zhigu and Guo Zhen were the princesses of Taiping, and the remaining Xiao Zhizhong and Lu Xiangxian did not help each other and only cared about being good people.

Empress Wei listened to Shangguan Wan'er's words, and secretly admired in her heart: Shangguan Wan'er deserves to be called the prime minister of women, and her opinions are really clever.

"Princess Taiping is already aware of this, and has already taken the lead." Speaking of this, Shangguan Wan'er said again, "The queen still remembers the incident when Xiao Zhizhong helped Princess Taiping and King Xiang, right?" ”

What Shangguan Wan'er said, of course Empress Wei remembers.

After Li Chongjun's coup, Empress Wei instructed Zong Chuke to denounce King Xiang and Princess Taiping, saying that the two of them colluded and instigated Li Chongjun behind the scenes, so Li Chongjun would launch a coup d'état.

Li Xian ordered Prime Minister Xiao Zhizhong to interrogate, Xiao Zhizhong, who was usually afraid of smashing his head if he dropped a leaf, unusually poured out his heart and lungs to avenge the grievances of King Xiang and Princess Taiping, saying that how King Xiang took the initiative to give up the throne with sincerity at the beginning, it is impossible to participate in the rebellion to seize the throne now. The final result is that the status of Princess Taiping and Li Dan, the king of Xiang, is still stable.